I remember 5 or so years ago, before Gates kits were dirt cheap, many on here were buying those Mizumo Auto t-belt kits off eBay. Many purchased the kits with the Mitsuboshi belts, so if you did, this doesn't concern you. Anyways, I have now seen 3 of the generic belts that came with those kits fail at around 50k and caught a forth one today that is on the brink of failing.

 

I run a Subaru repair shop with Rick Cropper, who went by GeneralDisorder when he still posted on here. He did a lot of work in his garage for people that didn't have much money before we started our current business. A handful of those people purchased and brought those kits to have them installed by him.

 

Fast forward to today, while replacing a trunk seal in a 98 Legacy that got one of those belts years ago, I happened to pull the outer t-belt cover since I knew it may have had one of those kits installed by the previous owner before this woman bought the car. It is now booked to have the belt and all other timing components replaced in the morning bc the belt is cracked at every rib.

 

Two 90-94 legacy models, a 97 Impreza (bent 4 valves), and now a 98 legacy have all shown premature belt failures from those kits. If you installed one (especially if you have an interference engine) I would in the least check the belt.

 

- Matt

just to get this straight - the Mitsuboshi seem OK, but there is another belt, you call it generic, that seems to fail early?

 

(I installed a M'boshi in my WRX)

 

also, tell GD we miss him!

Edited December 15, 201510 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

Good to know. I never figured on the cheapo belts lasting longer than the 60k interval, but some people I know have used them on cars with the 105k interval.

I have one on my 95, but it's running cover-less so I can see the belt get dirty and the idlers get rusty!

 

Texan, yes, Mitsuboshi are high quality. They're fine.

 

The generic belts I'm not even sure have a manufacturer name stamped on them.

No problems at all with the Mitsuboshi belts. As was mentioned by Fairtax, I was referring to the cheapest kits that didn't have an upgraded belt or water pump. If I remember correctly, there were 3 levels of kits from Mizumo. All GMB idlers/tensioner and no-name belt, GMB stuff and Mitsuboshi belt, and GMB stuff w/ Mitsuboshi belt/Aisin water pump.

 

Only other issues I've seen related to the cheap eBay parts are the generic, one-piece tensioners failing prematurely. When I was a broke college student I installed one of the non-NTN tensioners on my wife's 03 Legacy. The tensioner failed, started knocking and the belt skipped 2 teeth. Since then, we've also had a few new customers come in thinking their bottom-end was toast from the knocking when it really was just a cheap tensioner installed from a previous shop flopping against the tensioner bracket.

 

1 Lucky Texan, I'll be sure to let Rick know you say hello. We've been non-stop busy since Rick bought the bigger shop, so there just hasn't been much time to do anything else other than try to keep up with the work load.

They absolutely suck. Same for car parts wiz.

 

No line up marks on the belt !!! wTF ?? Of course we were lucky to have faint lines on the Subaru belt to transfer over.

^^^ tooth count is your friend.

 

that's a shame that Mizumo put those kits out. There's a lot of pressure on suppliers to chase that guy that is flipping a car or claims they MUST have the cheapest parts. If you don't offer 'economy' parts, they take their biz elsewhere.

... all shown premature belt failures from those kits ...

 

Thank you for sharing the information, maybe you can check which brand name was Stamped on those lousy quality Belts, next time you remove one.

 

Please also say my greetings to Rick.

 

Kind Regards.

Same thing happened to me.

I agree 100% - don't install an unbranded Timing-Belt on your Subaru.

 

I installed an unbranded T-Belt from MizumoAuto, and after 39,000 miles, it had the same transverse cracks at each rib.

I asked MizumoAuto to tell me which brand of belt this was. I only wanted to avoid buying another one like that.

MizumoAuto failed to reply to my repeated attempts to contact them.

See my earlier post (with photo of the cracked belt):

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/154398-timing-belt-best-buy/

 

One way around this it to buy a cheap kit (with all the idlers and water-pump), and throw away the unbranded belt.  Then buy a good belt separately, e.g. Gates or OEM.

Or just buy a more expensive kit, with a better belt.

Adding snapped bolts to the thread.

 

These kits have had pulley bolts snap as well. Cheapest metal too. Second to cheapest rubber belts.

People actually USE those bolts?! I chuck em in the scrap pile as soon as I open the box.

On Ebay, ask the seller of the Mizumo kits bundled with the Aisin water pump to be sure of the Mitsuboshi timing belt.  Some kits with the Aisin pump have the ITM ENGINE COMPONENTS timing belt.  

I am beggin' can't we just start a sticky wiki and identify the belts/kits/water pumps that have the best track record??

Even for those who don't do their own work it would be great to be an informed consumer and possibly politely up-educate a mechanic or two
I do appreciate threads such as these but unless you follow every day (have no life like me) you might miss this very important PSA.

^^^ that would be a good idea. I suppose though, the kits are a 'moving target' with reports of some stuff that was made in the US or japan now being made elsewhere.

The Aisin kits list the components to their kits. I used a Gates kits on my wife's XT bought earlier this year. It was a good kit except for the Chinese water pump which I did not install. Later kits bought this year by some have Chinese idlers. So like mentioned it is a moving target. When my daughter's 2010 Impreza is ready for TB I will most likely use the Aisin kit if the components listed are still top shelf. If not I'll pay the extra for Subaru components.

Right on, I'm not sure how confidently we can say a particular kit: 
A. has always come with the same parts

B.  still does

C.  always will

 

that's really nice of him to share some seemingly confirmed information, but in general forums are a conglomeration of anecdotal experiences and you try to piece together what you can.  a sticky like this might be tough to pull off.

 

If you're concerned - make the best decision with current information available and/or schedule early preventative checks.  whatever you do at 30k/50k/60k - add a timing belt inspection to it.  doesn't take terribly long to pull the cover on those with the side panels.